Two Wrongs Make It Right/Seven
seven “Show me the shadow where true meaning lies So much more dismay in empty eyes --Exodus, Evanescence --jet We ask someone to go call Grayshadow so we can get our plan approved. Carson is fidgetting, nervous for once about his own plan. "Stop moving," Ivy hisses, "you're the smartest cat in the entire territory! There's no way Grayshadow won't trust your plan." "Anyone could have come up with that," Carson argues, "it was so generic I can't believe you all agreed to it! Anything can go wrong!" "We agreed to it because we trust you," Peony reasons, "calm down." Carson still looks extremely nervous. I decide to voice my own opinion. "Carson, if there are flaws to your plan, then fix them now because I'd rather not die on a simple mission like this. We've come too far on your plans for one of them to fail now." "Okay...there aren't actually flaws unless you screw up yourself," Carson shrugs, "unless the intruders anticipate my plan of faking them out." "Oh whatever," I dismiss, "we work fine under pressure. If our plan doesn't work we'll just figure something out." Grayshadow sweeps into the den and his gaze is impatient. "You called for me?" Lavender steps forward. "We have a plan to take down the intruders." His ears perk up. "Go on." He orders, his green eyes sharp and commanding. I can see a spark of intelligence in the back of his eyes and I realize we had long underestimated Grayshadow. He may be small for his age, but he is as cunning as a fox. Carson explains the plan and requests for access to the rogues and some of the IceClan warriors as part as their army. "You can take the rogues," Grayshadow agrees, "but not the IceClan warriors. I do not trust them to do the job correctly. One thing: I want you to destroy the intruders completely. No exceptions allowed." "And you trust us?" I mutter under my breath. Lavender silences me with a look and Carson agrees. Grayshadow stalks away, looking as if he was in a hurry to do something. Unease settles in my belly but I decide it's best that I stick to our plan and ignore Grayshadow. "Let's go," Ivy jumps to her paws, "I've been waiting forever to go." Peony looks worried. "He wants us to kill them all." "We don't have a choice," Carson says gently, "Come on. We can try to spare some lives by asking them to leave, but if they don't do it, we have no choice but to do as we're ordered." "This is why we never signed up for IceClan," Peony reminds Carson, "We didn't want to take orders and do things that are against our policies." I take a deep breath. "We've never been ordered to kill anyone before," I admit, "perhaps the old leader had some good leadership qualities. But if Grayshadow is really going to lead us, we're going to have to get used to his demands." Peony still doesn't look very convinced and I'm a little worried. I don't want to kill those cats anymore than she does but we need to stay on Grayshadow's good side and if we let up on the intruders, they'll kill us instead. I've seen them kill innocent families on IceClan territory. "Peony?" Lavender eyes the cream colored she-cat. "I'll do it," she gives in, "you're right. We have no other choice." Carson gives her a quick embrace and she smiles sadly at him. For some reason, this makes me look at Lavender, who is standing with her back straight, tail kinked over her back. "You doing okay?" I whisper. "Yeah," Lavender gives herself a little shake. "I'll be fine." We fall silent as we begin to round up the rogues who had rallied with us against IceClan. We explain Grayshadow's order to wipe out the intruders. Some of them look uneasy when we mention death. Some look impassive about the subject but none of the rogues look like they will relish killing all the intruders. "Some of those intruders are innocent cats," someone calls out, "is it necessary to wipe out everyone?" I bite my lip and exchange a look with my friends. "Yes," Carson sighs, "Grayshadow has ordered us to do so." Category:Two Wrongs Make It Right